With their designs for a new flagship co-working environment "ShareCuse" in Syracuse, New York, Austin, Texas-based Architecture Office aims to reimagine the concept of an office cubicle by creating a "flexible office organization that does not kill the work environment." 

While more conventional co-working spaces like WeWork and Cross Campus focus on interior branding and image, Architecture Office co-principals Nicole McIntosh and Jonathan Louie instead focus on understanding workspace typologies to challenge and fine-tune the mold of cubicle design.

Set in a historic 1928 Syracuse Building within the downtown district, McIntosh and Louie pulled inspiration from the structure's 90-year history as an office space. Rather than using traditional cubicle enclosures that tend to create a daunting uniformity and repetative atmosphere, the duo played with black mesh screens to "filter the appearance of the spaces behind." When looking at the interiors of the co-working space, the office cubicle sections create a series of "monolithic" black forms. However, once an office resident approaches the screens, perceptions are shifted to reveal "layers of translucent scrim" showcasing the office and personnel. 

According to McIntosh in a press statement, "By grouping the cubicle structures into quadrants, we imagine workers moving around the objects and interacting within the shared office landscape." Louie adds, "[Cubicles] act as a series of minimal objects that occupy, frame, and define regions by inhabiting a larger room.”

Co-working spaces might not live on forever, however, in light of the steadily growing alternative office space trend, Architecture Office's provides a design approach that interrupts the idea of floor-to-ceiling glass dividing walls, plastic wall partitions, and other conventional approaches.